GB : Cds Postmarks : Smallest Diameter?

I read this years ago, and cannot locate the info,
anyone aware of the diameter?
I have a feeling it is around 12mm, I have some small ones
and would like to check.

Hi Rodney,

I can't answer your question directly but the first Bishop marks were 14mm in diameter.

Hi Nigel,
cheers, I was after CDS with town name,
when I find it, I'll post again
I have a niggling feeling is was from Scotland
This is the type of thing you read in more mundane
stamp books, biggest, smallest etc, so the info could be anywhere
in my library :(

Sometimes, you just get lucky...

The smallest handstruck datestamp in the United Kingdom was used at Manchester on re-directed mail in the 1890s and measured only 15mm in diameter. A single-arc datestamp used at Glasgow in the 1840s to denote late posting of letters measured 15-5 mm in diameter. The Creswell experimental datestamps, used in the rotary canceller of the late 1850s, in London and Exeter, measured 16 mm in diameter.

Acknowledgement : (of course) James Mackay.

Interesting topic guys, nice one!

15mm is very small, and fairly uncommon I would venture to say. Below are two of the smallest from my collection of about 5000+ 1d. Downey Heads. They both measure 18mm outside diameter and are from Groombridge, west of Royal Tunbridge Wells and Arnold, north of Nottingham.





More common on my stamp are the 20+mm ones, like this one below:





I would love to see an actual 15mm on a stamp, maybe someone has one they could post?

Have a good one,

Skilo54

Size matters!

I think you may be just a little late looking
on the Downey heads, the prime target would be Eddy7
too early for QV and probably too late for KG5,
and we must remember that james Mackay's example
were on dedicated hammers not postal CDS hammers
in day to day use.

The format of GB stamps during this time, like the Downey Head
is a width of 18mm, and I have never seen any SON
that seem to fit a further 3mm inside the frame.
However I shall keep the perf guage/ruler handy in future.

18mm is the smallest so far for me.

Here are the the paramaters, the 18mm and a KE7
with a Whopper!
Given that arc it would have been a "blunt instrument" :)

Perhaps one our SCF members
who is a whizz with photoshop,
can draw a 15mm circle on a Downey Head?

Ah yes rod222, a bit late for the smaller ones, but that is what makes the hunt interesting!

I like the Whopper, here is one on a Die2 Downey Head from Alford, west of Aberdeen, that is similar in size to the one you posted.



I have my circle templates from when I was in my drafting days at college and use them to determine the size of the circle. Works fairly well even on partial arcs.

Have a good one,

Skilo54

Circle templates!
great idea Skilo,
a must for my next stationery purchase.

Nice, I hope you find it helpful rod222! Here is one that is almost identical to the metric one I have. Lots on ebay/amazon for dirt cheap!



The green plastic on these types is see-thru, which is probably what you want instead of the translucent/opaque ones.

Have a good one,

Skilo54

Yea! that's what I would like, gotcha!
I can get that at Officeworks,

I don't use ebay
(I don't have an Ipad, I don't have a laptop,
the electronic era passed me by, I am a Meccano type of guy )

..and we go round and round, in the circle game...
Thanks for the tip Skilo.

wasn't cheap either

Skilo: do you have a mm width for that "whopper" Alford cancel?

Nice Circle Template rod222! It looks like you got yourself a really good one, and I am certain you will find it incredibly convenient and handy to use!

The Alford strike is pretty large, and I have it to be approximately 30mm +/-.25 for smudging. It is large, but I have one that beats it by a coulple smidges. This 1d. Downey Head Die 1b below is lucky to have the wonderful St.Giles TPO postmark that measures 32.5mm coast to coast! This would be my largest of the Skeletons that I have been able to find up to this point. These are said to be found to be in the range of 30-36mm, although I have yet to see one larger than the one I have below:



And as you can see from this snip off Google Earth, St. Giles remains quite a small little spot! Looks like you could walk across town in a minute or two!



Have a good one,

Skilo54

Skilo: thanks for that measurement. When I look at the Google Earth image of St. Giles I'm reminded of those maps that they would put at the front of the British village murder mysteries such as Agatha Christie, etc. Thanks for providing that also.

And, of course, there's that unrepeatable (here) limerick about the crypt of the church of St Giles, and the scream that echoed for miles ...